Former Indian great Sunil Gavaskar was branded a hypocrite when he appeared on a panel with Pakistani cricketers himself but banned Indian-owned teams from investing in players of Pakistani origin in various franchise T20 leagues.
Former Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar weighed in on the purchase of Pakistani spinner Abrar Ahmed by the Sunrisers Leeds franchise at the auction table for The Men’s Hundred. The team is owned by Sun TV Network, which also owns the IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad.
He had expressed his disapproval over Indian-owned franchises signing Pakistani players in the 2026 auction of The Hundred. This was the first auction held in the competition, which included teams owned by Indian giants.
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Sunil Gavaskar has issued a big clarification after being tagged as a hypocrite.
Sunil Gavaskar was seen sitting with former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram on the guest panel of a Pakistani cricket show during the 2025 Champions Trophy. For the first time, he has found himself a victim of some controversy.
Gavaskar had appeared on a Pakistani cricket show, ‘The Dressing Room’ during CT 2025 in Dubai. However, the former Indian cricketer clarified his stance, saying, “I neither asked nor received payment for the show I did in Dubai.”
Responding to the criticism, Gavaskar said, “Yes, I have been on the ICC and ACC commentary panels. As far as I know, the revenue went to all the participating nations from the ICC and ACC, but not to any Indian entity.”
Mumbai Mirror quoted Gavaskar as saying, “I don’t understand how you can say I am a contributor because I am not making any payments to any commentator, Indian or any other nationality.”
Sunil Gavaskar asks Indian owners to release Pakistani players from their teams in other franchise leagues
Not only in The Hundred, but Pakistan players have also featured in former T20 franchise leagues like the Caribbean Premier League and Major League Cricket in the West Indies and America respectively.
However, the former Indian star claimed that he does not follow any of these leagues but believes that if players of Pakistani origin are selected, they should be ignored.
“I don’t follow CPL, ILT20 or SA20, so I don’t know who is playing for whom. Yes. If there are Indian owners and they are paying Pakistani players, then hopefully they stop doing that. I don’t know about other sports and what they are doing. I am just praying that the Indians stop paying the Pakistanis. If you have noticed, it has never been the other way around for decades,” the Indian legend said.
Gavaskar had earlier termed Indian owners as anti-national for investing in India’s destruction.
The uproar caused by Sunrisers Leeds’ acquisition of the Pakistani spinner in the Hundred was not seen as surprising by the former Indian captain as he pointed to Pakistan’s atrocities against India over the years. Pakistani players have been sidelined from the IPL since the 2008 Taj attack.
Sunil Gavaskar had earlier claimed that the money paid to these cricketers would be collected by his government as taxes, and they would use that money to purchase weapons, which could lead to the deaths of thousands of innocent people in India.
He had claimed that this would simply mean that investing in Pakistani players would mean that the Indian owners were indirectly contributing to the number of casualties in India.
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